1-3 John : Worship by Loving God and One Another to Live Eternally

'1-3 John' treats the three letters of John as a unified epistolary package. Taking a thorough and scholarly approach, John Paul Heil proposes two important contributions to the study of 1-3 John. First, he presents new comprehensive chiastic structures for each of the three letters of John based on concrete linguistic evidence in the text. These chiastic structures serve as the guide to a better understanding of for whom John's epistles were meant, and why they were written. Secondly, it treats these letters from the point of view of their worship context and themes. Not only were 1-3 John intended to be performed orally as part of liturgical worship, but together these three letters plead with their audience to engage in a distinctive kind of ethical worship. The three letters of John are most concerned with giving their audience the experience of living eternally by the worship that consists of loving God and one another. Front Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright Information 5 Contents 6 Abbreviations 8 1. Introduction 10 2. 3 John: The Elder to Gaius 40 3. 2 John: The Elder to an Elect Lady 54 4. 1 John 1:1–10: He Will Cleanse Us from All Unrighteousness 66 5. 1 John 2:1–14: If We Keep His Commandments the Love of God Has Been Perfected 80 6. 1 John 2:15–17: Do Not Love the Things in the World 98 7. 1 John 2:18–27: The One Confessing the Son Also Has the Father 102 8. 1 John 2:28—3:6: You Know Whoever Does Righteousness Has Been Begotten from Him 114 9. 1 John 3:7–12: We Should Love One Another 123 10. 1 John 3:13–17: We Ought To Lay Down Our Lives for the Brothers 132 11. 1 John 3:18–24: Believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and Love One Another 139 12. 1 John 4:1–6: In This You Know the Spirit of God 148 13. 1 John 4:7–12: God Has Sent His Son so that We Might Live through Him 158 14. 1 John 4:13—5:2: Just as That One Is so We Are in This World 166 15. 1 John 5:3–12: This Is the Love of God that We Keep His Commandments 181 16. 1 John 5:13–21: All Unrighteousness Is Sin 195 17. Summary and Conclusion 209 Bibliography 216 Back Cover 220 "This book treats the three letters of John as a unified epistolary package. It proposes two new contributions to the study of 1-3 John. First, it presents new comprehensive chiastic structures for each of the three letters of John based on concrete linguistic evidence in the text. These chiastic structures serve as the guide for an audience-oriented exegesis of these letters. Secondly, it treats these letters from the point of view of their worship context and themes. Not only were 1-3 John intended to be performed orally as part of liturgical worship, but together these three letters exhort their audience to a distinctive ethical worship. In accord with the subtitle of this book, the three letters of John are concerned with giving their audience an experience of living eternally by the worship that consists of loving God and one another." -- A commentary on the Johannine Epistles, emphasising their performative, liturgical function and the particular ethical form of worship that they preach.